In a letter to Navy Secretary Donald Winter, Rendell urged that no action "inconsistent with maintaining flight operations at Willow Grove" be taken. At the same time he urged federal lawmakers to support a plan, developed by the state National Guard that would maintain a significant military presence at the installation and move the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team to Willow Grove from Fort Indiantown Gap in Lebanon County. This brigade is the only one of five such teams to be made up of citizen-soldiers.

Under the state's re-use plan, the facility's 8,000-ft runway, towers and other flight facilities would be maintained and the base would consolidate the Guard and the 56th Stryker Brigade at Willow Grove, adding more than 1,000 in personnel. Rendell argues that removal of the radar towers alone would cost DoD more than $15 million, while consolidation at Willow Grove would result in a savings of $6 million. He also says the plan would offer FEMA, EPA and other federal agencies use of the Willow Grove installation, "consistent with the federal government's move toward agency consolidation. …If the Navy is allowed to pack up and shutter the airstrip, it will only serve as a monument to government imprudence."

Rendell also reminded lawmakers and the DoD that a federal judge ruled in favor of the state in its lawsuit against BRAC. The suit was based on the US Constitution's militia clause, which prohibits the federal government from making changes to the National Guard without a governor's consent. BRAC made its point that Willow Grove houses both US military and state National Guard and left it on the closure list.